US Sale Of Armed Drones To Japan And South Korea Would Transform Tensions In The Pacific

According to UPI.com, South Korea is
looking to buy four RQ-4 Global Hawks to "to monitor
and deter regional threats in 2015 and beyond" while AFP reports
that Japan hopes
to launch the armed drones by 2015 “in a bid to counter
China’s growing assertiveness at sea, especially when it comes to
the Senkaku Islands.”

Beijing has been sending maritime patrol vessels into
waters near disputed islets in the East China Sea
—known as Diaoyu to the Chinese and Senkaku to the
Japanese — after Tokyo nationalized the chain in September.
Chinarecently
transferred two destroyers and nine other ex-navy vessels to
its maritime surveillance fleet.

Last month Japan
scrambled fighter jets after a Chinese government plane
entered what Japan considers its airspace over the disputed
territory.

A drone range of 3,000
miles would give both Japan (green) and South Korea (red)
considerable reach in the Pacific.freemaptools.com

The Global Hawk has a range of 8,700 nautical miles and a ceiling
of 60,000 feet. The Chinese blog
AirForceWorld claims that the Global Hawk can fly more
than 3,400 miles away from its base and stay there for 24
hours.